


The View from Olympus

by EveTen



Series: The Changing Seasons [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, General Hydra Creepiness, Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 09:54:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16172711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveTen/pseuds/EveTen
Summary: A companion fic to my other fic Pomegranate Seeds that provides some other characters' POVs.This can't really be read as a standalone.





	1. Demeter

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So, I'm sorry for the rather long absence. It's taken me a while to find the time and motivation to get back into this story line. I'll be leaving a temporary author's note in PS for anyone who might be subscribed to it.
> 
> Anyway, this is basically just a compilation of scenes from May's and Tony's viewpoint during the months Peter was missing. Along with another character who is actually quite instrumental in Peter's rescue.
> 
> This is also really unedited. Like, I might have read through it twice. Please excuse an really terrible oversights! This is really only an intermission while I finish up the sequel. Thank you all so much!

 May hated to leave Peter alone. She had hated it before he was hers and she hated now when she had to work triple shifts just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. It sucked and it made her worry.

 

Peter had always been sensitive, had always been a bit needy, and he was no different now. Super powers or no, he still needed a lot of love, attention, and affection.

 

He also, unfortunately, needed a lot more food. Hence the triple shift.

 

So, May had left Peter by himself after school. He went out as Spider-Man, she made him text him if she wasn’t home to see him off, and May made sure to put the TV at work on the local news.

 

She was filling out some paperwork when she saw the headline and he footage.

 

“Spider-Man pursued by Hydra terrorists!”

 

Her reaction consisted of panic, screaming, and calling Iron Man.

 

Tony Stark was not her favorite person, though he had started to grow on her more after finding out about her nephew’s vigilante habits. Well, the growing positive feelings had only really started after she’d worked her way through the fact that he’d lied to her about his entire purpose for meeting Peter.

 

Those first few days, May had blamed the whole hero business on Tony actually. It all led back to him, she thought; Peter was obsessed with him from the moment he saw the suit fly on TV.

 

Really, May thought, there wasn’t a Spider-Man without an Iron Man. Not in her world.

 

So, of course one of her first instincts was to call him.

 

It didn’t help all that much.

 

* * *

 

“Where the fuck is he?”

 

Stark looked weary. Old. Surrounded by screens and holograms, Tony looked like a dead man walking that hadn’t quite figured out he was in his own mausoleum.

 

May could tell that he took Peter’s abduction as hard as she did.

 

But she didn’t care all that much at that moment.

 

Tony sighed, “I don’t know. They disappeared after he took down the first chopper. They destroyed my first suit and were gone by the time the second got there.”

 

He looked away from his screens and into May’s eyes, “I swear, I _swear_ , I will find him. If takes a day, a week, a year, a damn decade, I will find him.”

 

“No.”

 

Tony’s brows furrowed.

 

“What?”

 

May shook her head, “No. _We_ will find him. The two of us,” she gestured between the two of them, “ _together_ will find him. That’s my boy, Stark, he’s _mine_! I’m not just going to sit here and do nothing. I’m not just going to wait.”

 

He nodded, slowly, “Alright. Let me show what we’re looking for.”

 

“Fry,” he said, “throw up some data for Mrs. Parker.”

 

“Yes, boss,” a voice from the ceiling replied.

 

May was, understandably, a little startled, “Is that your assistant?”

 

Tony hummed in reply, “Yes and no. She’s an A.I. that I built. She handles a lot.”

 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Parker.”

 

May wasn’t quite sure where to look so she settled on one of the corners of the ceiling, “It’s nice to meet you too, Fry?”

 

“I’m called F.R.I.D.A.Y., ma’am. But I don’t mind if you prefer to use the nickname the boss has for me.”

 

“Alright, thank you.”

 

“Of course. Please direct your attention to the screens in front of you and we can begin.”

 

And then they got to work.

 

* * *

 

They managed to figure out that Hydra had been watching Peter for a while which meant that they were dealing with a little more difficult of a situation.

 

“They’ll be more prepared,” Tony explained, “than they would have been if it were a hastily put together operation.”

 

“So what does that mean?”

 

“It means we’re gonna need help.”

 

So Tony brought in the other Avengers, a Vision and a Colonel Rhodes, and Stark Industries’ CEO Virginia Potts to help look. The three were helpful in their own ways.

 

Vision was far more equipped to work with F.R.I.D.A.Y., mainly because he was, she found out, half computer himself.  At first, May had thought that was a little odd but then she considered the fact that her nephew threw himself off of buildings and swung around on synthetic webs and could stick to anything.   That made a half computer man seem a little tame if she were being honest.

 

So they left the computer work to him.  Tony went out in his suit constantly to try and find some shred of physical evidence while Ms. Potts coordinated with the police and other organizations.

 

Colonel Rhodes sat with May. Kept her calm.

 

Or, well, he tried to keep her calm.

 

“What else can we do, Colonel? I can’t just fucking sit here and wait!  I can’t just wait for someone t-to bring his _body_ , for fuck’s sake!”

 

Rhodes shook his head, “That won’t happen Mrs. Parker. I promise.  We’ll find him but panicking like this can lead to reckless behavior and dangerous responses.  The best thing to do is to just let everyone work, let them do their part.”

 

“But what if—what if it’s not enough?”

 

“Then we’ll bring in more help until it _is_.”

 

* * *

 

May wasn’t exactly sure what a blind lawyer, a drunk not-detective, a man-child monk millionaire, and a human version of Captain America’s shield could do to help find her nephew but Tony says they could.

 

“They call themselves the Defenders.  I think they’re a subpar Avengers substitute but they could be useful.”

 

So May and Tony meet with them.

 

“Can I just ask,” Ms. Jones said, “Why are we in the same room as Iron Man?  It’s bad enough that I’m stuck with you fuckers again but I gotta deal with Iron Man bullshit now too?”

 

Tony looked like he wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not but addressed her question anyway, “It’s not so much my bullshit as Hydra’s bullshit.  They took my— _a_ kid.  The woman beside me,” Tony nodded to May, “is May Parker.  Her 15-year-old nephew, Peter Parker, was kidnapped by Hydra operatives.  Unfortunately, we’re stretched thin as it is and we can’t be everywhere at once.  So, we’d like the four of you to help us find him.”

 

The curly haired man-child, Danny Rand May thought was his name, spoke up next, “Not that I’m not willing to help but I’m not exactly sure what I, or any of us, can do to help.”

 

“What I’m curious about,” the lawyer, a Mr. Murdock, interrupted before May or Tony could respond, “is how you found us.  I realize Jessica and Luke are fairly conspicuous but Danny and I are a bit more secretive.  I’d like to know how you figured it out.”

 

Tony’s gaze hardened a little bit when he looked at Mr. Murdock, “How did I figure out a blind lawyer is the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen?  Well, I’ve got my ways. I _am_ Iron Man after all.”

 

“That doesn’t—“

 

“That’s the answer you’re getting,” Tony interrupted, “Now, will the four of you help us find a child or not?”

 

The last man, Luke Cage, finally spoke up, “He’s the Spider-Man, isn’t he?  The only Hydra activity in the city in the last couple of years was that recent chase after Spider-Man.  He was taken down and captured.  This kid, it’s him, right?”

 

May and Tony looked at each other uncertainly. May didn’t really want to out Peter but, at this point, it was irrelevant.

 

“Yes,” May said, “he is. Please, I’m begging you, please help me find my nephew.”

 

Rand and Cage both nodded, slowly, but Jones and Murdock still seemed unconvinced.  Well, they did until Jones huffed and sat up in her seat.

 

“Fuck it. I got taken and experimented on as a teen and it’ll fuck you up good.  If Boy Scout and Hard Man are down then I guess I am too. Which means,” she wheeled around to glare at Murdock, “You, you cantankerous bastard, are going to help us too. So put on your bloodhound sniffer and get the hell to work.”

 

Murdock, the blind Devil, grunted and nodded in agreement.

 

* * *

 

Six months after Peter was taken and they weren’t any closer to finding him.

 

Not with the help of the Defenders or the legion of private investigators that Pepper had hired.

 

“I just,” May said, “how can these people can hide themselves and a super-powered teen so well? I don’t get it.”

 

Pepper and Tony sighed in unison across the table from her.

 

“We’re all doing our best,” Pepper replied, “but sometimes the bad guys are actually competent.  They can’t outpace us forever.  We’re bringing in some more help, as well, so the more eyes we have the harder it’s going to be for Hydra to stay underground.”

 

May’s eyebrows furrowed, “Who _are_ we meeting by the way?  I don’t think that was ever cleared up for me.”

 

Tony opened his mouth to reply but the door opening cut him off.  Three people walked into the room.  A middle aged man and woman and a younger woman, probably in her mid to late twenties.

 

Tony’s face brightened just a bit, “Agent Agent!  Or is it Director Agent now?  And this must be the delightful Melinda May and Quake!  Or do you prefer Ms. Johnson?”

 

The younger woman answered as the three newcomers took their seats, “Daisy is fine, Mr. Stark.  Or do you prefer Mr. Iron Man?”

 

That made May hack out something resembling laughter.

 

“So,” the man said, “how can we lowly agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. help the great Tony Stark and the Avengers?  Something about a missing boy?”

 

“Why, Phil, that was pretty aggressive for a dead man.”

 

“Tony,” Pepper bit out, “shut up.  Phil, we need your help finding a boy Hydra’s kidnapped.”

 

Pepper slid a tablet over to the newly identified S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that May knew contained all of the information about Peter’s kidnapping that they had collected.  They examined it in silence for a few minutes before the man looked up.

 

“I think we can help. Kicking Hydra’s ass is kind of our thing and if we can help a boy at the same time, well, that’s a major bonus.”

 

Tony grinned, “Welcome to the team Zombie Director Agent.”

 

* * *

 

So, apparently, the combined effort of dozens, if not hundreds, of people from various organizations was still not enough to find one 130 pound 15-year old boy.

 

Go fucking figure.

 

They managed to narrow their search parameters to the northeastern U.S. and parts of Canada which wasn’t as helpful as it might have seemed at first.

 

“I get that it’s a big area,” May said, “but surely there’s only so many suitable locations for a facility like they would need to keep Peter in, right?”

 

“Not necessarily,” Daisy replied, “and there’s a lot more area to cover than you might think at first.”

 

Director Coulson nodded while he looked over another agent’s report, “We don’t have enough manpower to really cover where we need to so our search is taking even more time. Hell, they could be mobile for all we know.”

 

He set the report down and glanced over to May, “We need more people. We need more _experienced_ people especially. We need the other Avengers.”

 

May pursed her lips, “I don’t know. Tony doesn’t think—“

 

“We know what Stark thinks. We need them anyway. You’re the only one he’ll listen to when it comes to this. We need you to convince him.”

 

She sighed, “I’ll talk to him.”

 

She left the two agents to their work and went to find Tony.

 

As it turned out, she didn’t have to convince him at all. He’d made the call two days before, he said when she approached him about it.

 

“He- _they_ promised to be state side in a few days. Once they get in we’ll be able to really put the heat on Hydra.

 

* * *

 

It still wasn’t enough.

 

* * *

 

 

Eleven months. Eleven fucking months.

 

May wasn’t even sure that when she got her baby back he’d still be her baby. Or he’d be dead.

 

May thought that she would get a corpse back instead of her so- _nephew_ , dead or alive, at this point. She thought that whatever her baby had endure over the course of the last year would leave him broken. Shattered.

 

 The thought made her want to lay down and die herself.

 

Or burn the world down. She wasn’t entirely sure.

 

All May really _knew_ was that it was taking too damn long to find him. It had been too damn long hours after he’d been taken.

 

The Avengers were no really fucking help. Tony, try as he might, couldn’t do anything more. He was at the end of his rope as much as May was.

 

Hell, they were hopeless together. They’d only really left each other to sleep in the last couple of months. Pepper had most of May’s stuff moved into the compound and May had lost her job after they stopped being _understanding_ and told her they needed to think about _other things_. Like anything mattered more than her boy’s life.

 

Whatever. Fuck them. May hadn’t had time for that shit anyway. She needed to find her boy.

 

She didn’t. She couldn’t.

 

May couldn’t fucking do anything.

 

Tony couldn’t do anything.

 

Fucking Captain America and the Black Widow couldn’t do anything.

 

Sometimes, May wanted to be angry at them. They were superheroes, the _Avengers_ , and they couldn’t find a single 15 year old boy.

 

But then May would catch herself. She would see the look in Tony’s eyes, see his hair grayer than it had been a year ago, see how he’d hang on to every little bit of intel, any possible trace, and she would hold her tongue. She’d let the fire building in her chest burn through her own body instead of at the one man that might have any real hope of finding her boy.

 

In the end, it didn’t matter what May felt. All that mattered was Peter.

 

He was the only thing that mattered anymore.

 

* * *

 

In the end, it wasn’t anything that any of the people searching for Peter that led to his recovery.

 

No, it was _Peter_ that rescued himself.

 

May had been on her phone, checking her emails for any communication from the agents in the field, when she saw that she had a new email in her spam folder.

 

May had unsubscribed from every single one of her junk subscriptions in a fit of sleeplessness and irrational fury one night so an email in that particular folder was odd.

 

She tapped on the folder and the subject line of the email made her breath catch in her throat.

 

‘PETEREMERGENCY’

 

She jumped out of her seat and sprinted her way through the compound.

 

She must of bumped into at least three different Avengers and a dozen security officers before she reached the room she needed to.

 

“Tony!” She shouted.

 

Tony jumped, startled, “What, what’s wrong?”

 

“Peter,” May gasped for breath, “Peter sent a message. An email.”

 

He snatched her phone out of her hands, “Let me see.”

 

He looked at it, eyes squinted, “I don’t—I don’t know how much we can trust this, May. I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I’ll run this by some of the others and do some checks, okay? Then we’ll see where it goes from there.”

 

May felt it in her bones that this was right, this was it, this was her _boy_ —

 

But she trusted Tony. After the hellish year they’ve spent together how could she not?

 

* * *

 

It worked. They tracked him to a remote location in Vermont. The entirety of the Avengers, legitimate or rogue, the Defenders and what was left of S.H.I.E.L.D. left as soon as it was verified.

 

May had her boy back within the night.

 

Plus a boy extra.

 

That was…a shock.


	2. Zeus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is Tony's bit. Again, this is really just a compilation of seemingly unrelated scenes. Not everything is going to line up with May's chapter and it might seem a bit more scattered.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Tony Stark was not having a good day.

 

He was in another country, Switzerland in fact, secluded away with a fuck ton of old assholes that wanted to weaponize people trying to keep them from doing so.

 

He was refuting someone’s idea that everyone be tested at birth and sent to special camps when he was notified that Pete had landed in some deep shit.

 

By May Parker. Very loudly.

 

So he excused himself and left the meeting despite some argument from the other members. He held the phone away from his ear slightly and told her to calm down and talk to him.

 

“Peter’s being chased! By fucking Hydra agents! Where the fuck are you?” She demanded.

 

“I- what? He’s what?”

 

May growled, _growled_ , at him, “He’s being chased and shot at.  Help him!”

 

“I’m in Europe but I’m going to send a suit after him now. I’m controlling it, don’t worry.”

 

“Get there as fast as you can!”

 

“I will, I promise.”

 

So Hydra. The kid was being pursued by Hydra. Not exactly unexpected, Tony had been prepared for this eventuality, or something like it at least, but he hadn’t expected this so _soon_. The kid had just turned down an Avengers off, something that showed a ridiculous amount of good sense if you asked Tony, and had only defeated his first real challenger as a hero. He wasn’t ready for the ruthlessness of an organization like Hydra.

 

No, Tony needed to get there _now_.

 

“Fry, the jet’s almost ready?”

 

“Yes, boss.”

 

“And the suit?”

 

“You can connect to it now.”

 

The glasses Tony had thrown on flickered to life, letting him see through the eyes of his suit.  The New York skyline was always a sight to see no matter how many times he saw it.

 

No time to admire it though.  He had a kid to get.

 

He guided the suit towards the conflict, racing past Harlem and Manhattan, near the Queens coastline. The pursuit wasn’t very subtle, what with there being a small army of soldiers, SUVs, and two helicop—

 

Make that one.

 

“Nice work, kid.” Tony muttered to himself.

 

Tony was less than 45 seconds away from the kid when Peter was taken down.  Watching the kid fall, while he writhed in pain, made his chest hurt more than any shrapnel or shield could.  The missiles that exploded in his path and the various ordinance that knocked the suit off course only added to the frustration, pain, and helplessness Tony was feeling, thousands of miles away.

 

A loud beeping, a warning of more incoming fire, was the last thing Tony saw before his suit went dark.

 

“Fuck, Fry, launch another suit!”

 

“Already on its way boss.  I don’t know if it’ll get there in time, though.”

 

“That doesn’t matter!  Get it there now!”

 

Fuck, fuck, _fuck_!  Tony doesn’t have time for this.  He stormed up the stairs to his jet and shouted for them to get in the air.  He threw himself down into a seat and pulled his glasses back onto his face.

 

“Alright, baby, give me something.”

 

The glasses connected to the suit’s vision and F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice came through.

 

“He’s down, boss.  I’ve lost visual on him.  The suit’s tracker is still working but it doesn’t seem to be moving. I recommend directing the suit to the location specified immediately.”

 

Tony did so.

 

Uselessly.

 

The suit was empty, clumped and tattered on the ground. No Peter.

 

No Peter.

 

* * *

 

Tony’s phone call with May after that was the worst phone call he had ever had.

 

* * *

 

Tony knew that they only had a certain amount of time to find Peter if they wanted any kind of chance at finding him alive.

 

He knew that and he had failed anyway.

 

The police gave up and half of the private investigators he had hired quit after six months of _nothing_ and the fucking Defenders, the other New York vigilantes that Tony had brought in, weren’t any real help at all. Not that they didn’t try, of course they had tried their hardest, but it hadn’t gone anywhere. Jones worked the case in the best way she knew how, Murdock beside her the whole time. Cage had apparently attacked every major criminal organization in New York and squeezed them for all the intel he could. Nothing helpful was ever produced by any of them.

 

Rand had utilized his company in a similar way that Tony had, employing an army of private security and investigators, and, also just like Tony, nothing had come of it. The entire force of Stark Industries and Rand Enterprises was apparently nothing in the face of a wounded fucking Hydra.

 

God fucking dammit.

 

So that’s why Tony was looking for a dead man.

 

Phil Coulson was supposed to have been killed _years_ ago but, by all reports, he had been very happily running the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D for a while. The whole Inhuman crisis is supposed to be his fault or some shit. Regardless, Tony wanted Coulson by his side when dealing with any kind of Hydra bullshit.

 

It was surprisingly difficult to track down Coulson and his team, _someone_ was digitally hiding their tracks really well, but he _was_ Tony Stark. So, Tony found him and gave him a call.

 

He answered on the second ring.

 

“Who is this? I’d like to know how you got this number.”

 

“Phil! How are you buddy? No chest holes or anything I hope.”

 

The other end of the line was silent for a few beats before Coulson wearily replied, “Mr. Stark. I’m more surprised than I should be, I think.”

 

“Well, I wouldn’t be too surprised, that’s for sure. I like to know that my friends aren’t dead.”

 

The line crackled a bit, “Why are you calling?”

 

Tony’s breath hitched, “I need your help.”

 

“Mr. Stark, we’re busy ourselves and I can’t just—“

 

“It has to do with our favorite mythical reptilian organization kidnapping a child.”

 

_That_ gave Coulson pause.

 

When Phil spoke again his voice was firmer, “I think we should meet.”

 

————————

 

Even with Phil’s help the search was still slow going. There were more hours of quiet than there weren’t and it was during those quiet hours that May and Tony came to understand one another.

 

Months before Tony had even thought of bringing Phil in, Tony had realized how hard the whole situation was on May. Her apartment was silent as a tomb and her neighbors painfully helpful and condescendingly sympathetic. It made her look as if she was going to explode and fall into a coma at the same time. Tony offered a room at the compound and his own penthouse in the city but she refused the second and only stayed at the compound when there might be news.

 

It wasn’t just emotionally difficult either. May’s work became less and less understanding as time went on. In the first two weeks they were more than sympathetic. Four weeks later they started asking when she might return.

 

Three months in they sent her a letter of termination and a sympathy note.

 

So Tony sat her down and told her that she was going to be staying at the compound until they could work something else out and that she shouldn't worry because Pepper was going to handle everything.

 

Months later and they hadn’t worked anything else out.  Hell, they hadn’t even tried. It was so much easier, so much safer, to have May at the compound where she could get news in real time.  May hated to feel useless, to feel like she wasn’t contributing, and Tony understood that.  He really did.  But May helped in her own way.

 

Like how she would remind him, even unintentionally, why it was so important to Tony to find Peter.

 

“He’s always been a sensitive kid,” she told him over some drinks one of the many sleepless nights, “not in a bad way or that he’s easily upset.  He just—he’s always _felt_ things more intensely than any other kid I’ve ever met.  His parents died when he was just old enough to really _feel_ the loss but not really have any good memories and I think that’s really where it started.”

 

Tony nodded like that was something he understood.  He didn’t, really.  Kids that young just…well, they didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him.

 

She hiccuped from the alcohol, “I think that that sensitivity is half of the reason he decided to become Spider-Man.”

 

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed, “Just half?”

 

She nodded, “I include the guilt he feels over Ben’s death in that.  You’re the other half.”

 

He blinked at her.

 

“Yes, you,” she giggled, “oh he _loves_ you.  Yes, present tense.  He’s obsessed with Tony Stark and Iron Man.  The first time we saw you on TV he just gasped like he’d seen the fucking light.  When my husband explained that you built and designed that suit yourself he screamed that he wanted to be just like you.”

 

She laughed, “‘I wanna be a inginear!’,” she said in a high pitched voice, “We never had the heart to try and correct his pronunciation.  God, he was so cute.  Big nerdy glasses and a gap in his front teeth, trailing after Ben with an Iron Man plushy.”

 

“When he was, oh I don’t know, eight maybe?  I think it was eight.  Anyway, he went to the Stark Expo with Ben and I.  We got him an Iron Man mask and glove, you know the ones with LED lights, and he was so damn happy.  He darted this way and that way, trying to take in everything all at once.  We could hardly keep up!”

 

She grew just a bit somber, “We should have, really.  The fucking Hammer bots went batshit then and we lost track of him.  When we found him he’d said that one of the drones was threatening him and that he’d been brave like you and was going to blast it when you swooped down from the sky and destroyed it.  You’d told him—“

 

“‘Nice work, kid’,” Tony finished, “I remember.  Shit, that was him?”

 

May nodded. “Yup.”

 

Tony breathed out and brought his hand to his eyes. “Giving me heart attacks even then.”

 

“Yeah, he was a little shit.  He’s _still_ a little shit.”

 

She sighed, “Why did they take him, Tony? Why him? There are plenty of other superheroes.”

 

He took a breath, “I’ve been thinking about that.  I think it’s because he’s, well, him.  Younger.  More vulnerable, easier to manipulate and train.”

 

“Well, that’s not going to be as easy as they want it to be.  He’s stubborn.  More stubborn than a 15-year-old has any right to be.”

 

Tony hums and they clink their glasses together.

 

* * *

 

Peter’s birthday passed.  The day was filled with silence.

 

* * *

 

 Tony Stark had a decision to make. It wasn’t exactly a big one and not really a small one either. A medium sized decision. If handled incorrectly it could backfire on him in a bad way. If handled correctly, however, it could bring Peter back home.

 

The small, ridiculously outdated cellphone in his hand seemed to be mocking him.

 

_What do you think you’re doing you idiot_ , it said, _just call and then find Peter!_

 

_No, you damn idealistic fool_ , a part of him responded, _they’re not going to help you!_

 

So Tony sat there. He stared and thought and stared and thought andstaredandthought—

 

“Fuck it.”

 

He dialed the one contact on the phone. It rang, shrilly, for a minute and then clicked.

 

“Hello?” A voice Tony hadn’t heard in months answered.

 

“I need your help. I need you all to come in.”

 

“Tony, what’s going on?”

 

“I’ll tell you when you get here.”

 

“We’ll be there in a couple of days, then.”

 

And Tony hung up.

 

He really fucking hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.

 

He was reassured when May confronted him later about needing more help and he had an answer prepared.

 

* * *

 

He was less reassured when the rogue Avenegers landed a few days later and all Tony could think about was the ache in his chest and betrayal and murder and—

 

Peter.

 

All he had to focus on was Peter. Peter was all he needed to focus on. He could do this for Peter.

 

For Peter.

 

“Hey, Cap.”

 

* * *

 

May showed him the email and Tony felt like he was flying in the suit for the first time again. Elated and terrified all at once.

 

_We’re gonna get him back_ , he thought to himself, _we will._

 

* * *

 

The Avengers, The Defenders, and S.H.I.E.L.D. descended on the Hydra base where Peter was being kept like an unstoppable wave.

 

It was so _easy_ for Tony to tear through each and every godforsaken soul he came across. Fire and metal and energy tore through anything that was thrown at Tony because he—

 

He was _Iron Man_ and they took his _boy_.

 

_This time_ , he thought, stepping over bodies, _there won’t be any heads to grow back_.

 

In his ear he could hear the girl Phil brought, Daisy or Quake or whatever the hell she wanted to call herself, directing him through the base to the containment unit they had designed for Peter.

 

The unit was meant to be reinforced on the inside not the outside so Tony tore right fucking through it.

 

He strode in, set the suit to sentry mode and looked around the surprisingly spacious room.

 

Tony had expected more of a cell not a small living space, honestly.

 

_Not important, Tony_ , he thought.

 

He glanced around the room, hurriedly looking for Pe—

 

Tony spotted him in the shower, smart even in the face of uncertainty, clutching a—

 

A baby?

 

“Peter, why is there a baby?”


	3. Cerberus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally we hit the OMC. You'll meet him in a sec and I hope you like him.
> 
> Also, pay attention to the tags here. This chapter gets a little more explicit than the others or PS.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

Alexander Stewart, Alex as he preferred to be called, wasn’t exactly sure how he ended up in a Hydra base in Vermont but there he was.  He wasn’t a big shot or anything, that dubious honor belonged to one Dr. Hugh Schneider, and really only went where he’s been told to.  Alex was security, see, so all he really had to do all day was stand around and make sure nothing out of the ordinary happened.

 

Well, out of the ordinary for Hydra.

 

Most of the time, his assignments were to labs that dealt with some sensitive work.  Mostly weapons development, he discovered throughout his time with Hydra, but occasionally he was stuck with some weird shit.  His moral compass was mostly apathetic towards the majority of the goings on in the organization and his wallet and family were very thankful for this. It also meant that most of the weird shit didn’t phase him too much. Most of the time.

 

 Alex came out of college with a bachelors, a ton of debt, and zero job prospects.  Hydra approached him, discretely of course, and now, three years later, he gets paid better than secret service agents.

 

The insurance policies are pretty shit but that’s understandable considering there’s a pretty high likelihood of being attacked by the Avengers.  But there are ups and downs to every job.

 

Regardless, Alex was still a little baffled by the fact that he was stationed in _Vermont_ of all places.

 

“You ever hear of anything really bad happening in Vermont?” His superior replied when Alex asked, “No.  It’s safe, a fly over state, meaning it’s nowhere anyone’s going to really look.  Germany, Romania, hell, Florida or California, they’re all more likely to be suspected.”

 

Alex felt that reasoning was a little bit odd but that wasn’t his call.

 

They’d been there for a couple weeks and had only just finished up all the prep for whatever fuckery the lab guys were going to cook up when they brought _him_ in.

 

The Spider-Man.  From YouTube!

 

He heard from some of the guys coming in that he led them on a ridiculous chase and even took down one of the choppers.  Alex, if he was honest, was more than a little happy he dealt with the more technical side of security.

 

Alex was on duty when they finally brought him in to the OR and could see what they were doing through the cameras.  They had taken off his costume and—

 

“Shit,” Alex whispered to himself, “that’s a baby.”

 

If Spider-Man was any older than 15 Alex would eat his boots.

 

Again, Alex’s moral compass was pretty nonexistent for most things.  It had to be to work for an organization like Hydra but.

 

That was a line he wasn’t really sure he was ready to cross.  The kid was only ten years younger than him, only a little younger than Alex’s little sister and—

 

Holy fuck.  Holy fuck.

 

They seriously extracted the kid’s sperm.  Like, pumps hooked up to his penis and everything.  Holy fucking shit.

 

Alex thought he was going to be sick.  He was suddenly thankful that this branch was really understaffed and small because that meant it was just him in the control room.

 

“Jesus,” he exhaled, “what the hell have I gotten myself into?”

 

* * *

 

Time passed. Real fucking slow but it passed. Alex was certain that he was going to have watch a 15 year old cry, sleep, shower, eat, piss, and shit through high quality cameras for the remainder of his time at Hydra. Three months in was about when the kid started yelling at the walls. At six months, he started talking to himself, sometimes quietly and sometimes not so quietly.

 

At eight months he started to get more comfortable in his imprisonment. Alex figured this out because he had to start watching a 15 year old boy cry, sleep, shower, eat, piss, shit, and _masturbate_ at month eight. Honestly, Alex couldn’t believe that the kid had become so comfortable that he had started doing that.

 

Like, wasn’t the kid worried about being watched? Alex sure as hell would have been. Though, that might have been because Alex knew his two coworkers.

 

There were three of them all together. Alex, of course, Micheal Somerfield, and Catelyn Cowan. Cowan was alright, a bit of a hard ass but alright, but Somerfield was a fucking creep. Alex felt his skin crawl every time he looked at him.

 

One day, just before the kid’s breakdown around month nine, Alex had walked in to the control room a few minutes before his shift started. Cowan was stationed at the door. That was how their shifts worked; one person in the room, one at the door, one off for a few hours. Cowan nodded at him and allowed him in. The door was quiet when it opened and closed so Alex slipped in quietly.

 

The room was small, with only a couple feet between the door and the wall of screens, so Alex could spot the kid pretty easily. He was in the shower, taking care of business like he’d gotten in the habit of doing, but unlike the other times Alex had seen this, he could hear the slick sound that tended to accompany masturbation. He couldn’t, however, hear the _shower_.

 

He very quietly made his way around the back of Somerfield’s chair and could see his arm moving rapidly up and down, the head of his penis visible on the downstroke.

 

Somerfield was getting off to a 15 year old boy getting off.

 

“What the fuck, Somerfield?” Alex spat

 

Somerfield jerked, tucked himself back into his pants, and whirled around, “Jesus, Alex, learn to announce yourself!”

 

“Seriously? That’s what you’re gonna go for? Somerfield, I just saw you jerking it to a 15 year old captive!”

 

Somerfield, the fucking creep, just shrugged, “What? He’s not gonna care. He doesn’t know. Hell, he might and be doing this shit on purpose, the little twink. Trying to seduce us or some shit, man.”

 

Holy fuck, Alex wanted nothing more than to beat his ass, “You really think a 15 year old boy masturbates for the guards that have to watch him. Somerfield, that’s fucking stupid. It’s a natural thing that’s healthy to do. He’s not doing it for us.”

 

Alex continued, “Beyond that, this is ridiculously unprofessional and so far beyond inappropriate! How in the hell did you think this was an okay thing to do in general let alone on the clock!”

 

Somerfield scoffed, “Yeah, sure, I’m the only one here that’s guilty of taking advantage of the solitude in here.  Sure, Stewart.  I believe that.”

 

“What the hell are you implying? You think I’m pathetic enough to try and get my rocks off to a small boy?”

 

Somerfield snorted, “Small being the operative word here definitely.”

 

Alex felt what little patience he had left vacate his body.  Joking about the boy’s dick was the last fucking straw.  Fuck Somerfield, Alex was over this bullshit, “Alright, that’s it!  We’re going straight to Schneider with this!”

 

That made Somerfield smarten right up, “The fuck you’re not! Stewart, back the hell off.  I promise not to compromise security,” he sneered the word out, “again.  Just don’t go to Schneider.”

 

But Alex had already thrown the door open.  Cowan started to shout at the both of them to quiet down and that someone had to be in the room at all times.

 

Alex ignored her.  He’d probably regret that.

 

He heard both Cowan and Somerfield shouting behind him, first at him and then at each other. Cowan wanted to know what was going on and why no one was watching the cameras and Somerfield tried to get Alex to stop.

 

He didn’t.

 

No, he went straight to Dr. Schneider’s office. He knocked, he wasn’t stupid enough to barge in even as angry as he was, and enter quietly when told to do so. Dr. Schneider was examining a report, Alex couldn’t see what it was about, and gestures for him to wait a moment. He hummed to himself while Alex stood at attention until, finally, Dr. Schneider set the paper down and looked up at him.

 

“Yes, Mr. Stewart? Is there a problem?”

 

Alex gulped and nodded, “Yes sir. Just now, during shift change, I entered the control room and found Micheal Somerfield...behaving inappropriately in reference to the boy.”

 

Dr. Schneider raised an eyebrow, “Inappropriate behavior towards the subject? I’m afraid I’ll need more information, Mr. Stewart.”

 

Alex was hesitant, a bit unsure of himself, but answered all the same, “He was masturbating, sir. To the subject in the shower.”

 

That actually seemed to take the doctor by surprise, “Really? That would certainly be something we would classify as inappropriate,” he said, “but I am curious as to why you brought this matter to me?”

 

That was actually a point Alex was a bit unsure of too, “I felt that, as you have the final word on matters concerning the boy and this base, this was something you might find concerning. It’s not only inappropriate workplace behavior but could also affect the security of the entire mission.”

 

And it was also fucking wrong and disgusting but that wouldn’t sway any minds here.

 

“How so?” Dr. Schneider inquired.

 

This next point was kind of bullshit but it would be what damned Somerfield, “He might develop some...affection for the boy. Or, more likely, he might try to use his access to the boy to act more directly on his desires. Either way introduces an increased risk of the boy’s escape.”

 

Somerfield might be a creep but he wasn’t that stupid. But still, it might just be another nail in his coffin.

 

Dr. Schneider tilted his head side to side, as if weighing his words, “I agree, Mr. Stewart. I think it’d be best if we vacated his position. It’ll be taken care of. You’re dismissed.”

 

Alex saluted, “Sir.”

 

When he returned to his post, Somerfield was gone and Cowan was glowering at Alex.

 

He offered her a sheepish smile, “Sorry. I’ll have to tell you about it later.”

 

She grunted and shoved him in the room.

 

Alex considered himself lucky. He was pretty certain Cowan could tear his arms off and shove them up his ass.

 

He never did find out what exactly happened with Somerfield but Alex never heard from him again.

 

————————

 

So they made a baby. From the sperm they took from the kid. A baby. Where the hell did they have the space to do that in this tiny ass base? Nowhere Alex had access to that’s for damn sure.

 

Maybe the base was bigger than he was told? That isn’t an unusual thing with Hydra. He’d seen it before.

 

Regardless, Alex now had the honor of almost singlehandedly watching a 15 year old parent a newborn. Cowan made him take her camera shifts which meant the two of them basically worked the same shifts 24 hours a day. It fucking sucked.

 

They said they were going to bring in new blood to ease their load a bit but Alex doubted that was going to happen anytime soon. Fuckers.

 

It wasn’t all terrible though. They managed to get their meals brought to them. Cowan got a chair finally. They alternated sleep and bathroom breaks. Could have been worse, that’s for sure.

 

Watching the kid figure the baby shit out was funny too. The literal and metaphorical shit. The piss to the face thing? Fucking priceless!

 

They carried on like that for a month and then another. Nearly a full fucking year in the ass end of nowhere Vermont watching a 15 year old all fucking day. It sucked.

 

He knew it was worse for the kid though. Alex wasn’t a complete sociopath, he did have some empathy, so he felt for the kid. Alex isn’t sure why they even kept him to be honest. That wasn't standard protocol. Yeah, he heard the “we need permanent access to him” spiel but that seemed a little too out of protocol for Alex. It was a little reckless and more than a little cruel. Unnecessary cruelty, he meant. And bringing a baby, a real non-clone baby, into it? That was a little to far for Alex.

 

Which would explain the stupid fucking choices Alex made when the kid tried to escape.

 

Alex wasn’t a heartless guy. He really wasn’t. He just tried to do his job and help his family out. But damn if it didn’t smart to see a kid near his sister’s age in a situation like this.

 

So when the kid gets the genius idea to put the baby in the delivery bin to get at the bits of the wall that weren’t graded for his strength, Alex did nothing. Well, he did nothing to stop it but he _did_ do something to make sure he wasn’t immediately shot.

 

No, Alex registered it, made his decision and walked to the door. He stuck his head out and hissed to Cowan, “Cowan! Can you please, please take over for a minute? I’ve gotta use the bathroom.”

 

She turned her head to glare at him, “You went fifteen minutes ago! No, fuck you, get back there.”

 

“No, please! I have to shit!”

 

“Why didn’t you then?”

 

“I didn’t have to then, Jesus! Please? I’ll owe you.”

 

She snorted, “Stewart, you already owe me a fuck ton. Anymore and I’ll just start taking part of your check. You can hold it until the next switch.”

 

“Cowan, c’mon, that’s not for two hours!”

 

“Hold it. And if you shit your pants I’m not bringing you anymore.”

 

“Please, help a guy ou—“

 

The alarms cut him off. They were set trigger automatically when the containment unit was breached. The little fuck had gotten through! Which meant it was time for a little acting.

 

Alex darted back to the cameras, “Fuck! He’s loose!”

 

“What the hell, Stewart?”

 

Alex shoved past Cowan and ran straight for the armory, “Come on! We gotta gear up for this!”

 

“Fuck!”

 

They sprinted to the armory where they found only a couple of the other guards.

 

“Where the hell is everyone else?” Cowan asked as they started to gear up for a fight with an enhanced.

 

“Drunk as fuck for all I know,” one guy, South was his name, Alex thought “but what the fuck happened with you two? Why didn’t we get anymore warning?”

 

“Later, move, now!”

 

By the time they managed to get themselves and the others, who showed up a couple of minutes after Alex and Cowan, moving towards the kid’s wing he was coming out of one of the labs that he shouldn’t have been in if he wanted to escape. The kid ran, a lot faster than what any of them expected.

 

It was a bit disorienting to see the kid in real life so Alex was a bit slower than the others to get to him. At least, that’s what he told his superiors when they asked.

 

And ask they did. About a lot. Why it happened, why they didn’t have any warning, where were you, etcetera.

 

Alex and Cowan actually answered similarly thankfully.

 

“We’re overworked,” they said, “and understaffed. We’re working constant 24 hour shifts and we have to watch the kid and the door. So one of us has to do both when the other has to eat, sleep, or use the toilet. It was during one of those times that the subject tried to escape.”

 

They were disciplined and reprimanded but that was it. They were told they were going to bring in another two guards to help cover them.

 

Part of their punishment was to review all security surveillance, video or otherwise, during the incident and report what could be improved on, besides the obvious. It was during this review that Alex made his second stupid choice.

 

He was reviewing the outgoing communications log when he noticed an email that had been flagged and held by the system. It had been sent by a personal device, which they weren’t supposed to have on the base premises, and Alex had almost noted it and sent it to his superiors when he saw the subject line.

 

‘PETEREMERGENCY’

 

That was...interesting. There weren’t any Peters in the base personnel that he knew of. The Spider-Kid’s name was Peter, though, wasn’t it?

 

It hit Alex like a fist. The kid knew he wouldn’t be able to escape. So that attempt wasn’t an attempt at escape but an attempt at _rescue_.

 

That little fucker was smart. Maybe not the brightest given that had anyone but Alex seen this he would have been fucked. But it was Alex who saw and Alex who cleared it.

 

It was Alex who brought all of the Avengers, legitimate and rogue, along with the various vigilantes of New York, the Defenders he thought they called themselves, and the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. to the base.

 

It was Alex who brought Quake, Black Widow, and Melinda fucking May bursting through his control room door.

 

He’d heard horror stories about all three of them and had never, ever wanted to be within a mile of any of them. And now all three were pissed as hell and in the same fucking room as him.

 

His shit was about to get wrecked, fuck. The things his fucking conscious made him do.

 

Quake threw him from his chair and immediately took his place. May watched the door, Alex could see poor Cowan unconscious through it, and the Widow lifted him up against the wall by the throat.

 

“Where is he?” She asked, calm as can fucking be, “I won’t kill you if you tell me.”

 

“Containment! Look under containment!”

 

He saw Quake nod in the corner of his eye and heard her start directing the rest of their teams.

 

Widow tilted her head, “You’re afraid but you’re not surprised. I can tell. You’re not surprised we’re here. Why is that?”

 

He felt the pressure on his throat ease up a bit, “We-well, Ms. Romanoff, I’m a little surprised that _all_ of you are here, sure, but, no, I’m not surprised you’re here to rescue him. I’m kind of the reason you found him.”

 

Her eyes narrowed and May and Quake turned briefly to look at the two of them.

 

“Explain.”

 

“Uh, well, I kinda felt this was a little too shitty and a little too creepy? Like, I can tolerate a lot but this whole shit-show was a little much. So, um, when the kid tried to escape, I was on duty and I...didn’t tell anyone. I distracted the other guard, the one out there, Cowan, and then just let him go at it till he got out. After, I was assigned to review some of the outgoing communications and I found the email he sent. I cleared it.”

 

All three were more than a little hesitant to believe him, he could see, but Quake, Daisy Johnson, Alex thought, was her name, nodded once.

 

“That makes some sense,” she admitted, “Stark and I didn’t think that Hydra would allow that kind of communication. An insider letting it go would have been the only way it could have gotten out.”

 

Widow seemed to make up her mind after that.

 

“What’s your name?” She asked.

 

“A-Alex, ma’am,” he stuttered, “Alex Stewart.”

 

“Well, Alex, congratulations on being a decent human being. You saved your life.”

 

“Awesome.” He breathed out.

 

Just in time for her fist to slam into his head.

* * *

 

Alex was put in prison. He wasn’t dead which he thought was pretty cool.

 

The kid got out, too. Both of them. Alex was definitely glad about that. He didn’t think any kid should have to deal with Hydra’a shit.

 

Alex just hoped that Spider-Man and his son stay okay. Maybe that made him weak, in some way, but that was fine.

 

If it meant a boy and his son got to live something resembling a happy life Alex was okay with being a little weak and in prison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wanted to clarify a little bit on why I included dear Alex in this. Quite simply, it's because there was no fucking way Peter could have done the shit he did in PS and gotten away with it. Not with the kind of security they would have to have to keep him in and from being found.
> 
> At least, not with inside help. And thus Alex was born. I also feel it's important for us to realize that everyone, and I mean everyone, has a breaking point, a point where they will no longer put up with shit, and I think we don't often get to see the defectors, the traitors, from the bad guys in Marvel fanfiction.
> 
> In short, I felt Alex was a necessary part for my story to play out the way I felt it needed to. I hope you like him!
> 
> Thank you all so much for you readership and support! I hope to see you all when the sequel posts!


End file.
